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If a matter is too difficult for you,[a] for example disputes between blood and blood,[b] between legal claim and legal claim[c] and between assault and assault[d] and between matters of discernment in your towns,[e] then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be in office in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you the verdict.[f]

10 “And you shall carry out exactly the decision[g] that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and you shall diligently observe[h] according to all that they instruct you. 11 And so according to the instruction of the law[i] that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or to the left. 12 And the man who treats with contempt[j] so as not to listen to the priest who is standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people will hear and will be afraid, and they will not behave presumptuously again.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 17:8 Literally “If is difficult/wonderful from you a thing for judgment”
  2. Deuteronomy 17:8 Or “between one homicide and another”
  3. Deuteronomy 17:8 Or “one kind of lawsuit and another”
  4. Deuteronomy 17:8 Or “one kind of abuse and another”
  5. Deuteronomy 17:8 Literally “gates”
  6. Deuteronomy 17:9 Literally “the word of the decision”
  7. Deuteronomy 17:10 Literally “and you shall do according to the mouth of the word”
  8. Deuteronomy 17:10 Literally “and you shall observe and do”
  9. Deuteronomy 17:11 Literally “mouth of the law”
  10. Deuteronomy 17:12 Or “acts presumptuously”

Legal disputes

If some legal dispute in your cities is too difficult for you to decide—say, between different kinds of bloodshed, different kinds of legal ruling, or different kinds of injury—then take it to the location the Lord your God selects. Go to the levitical priests and to the head judge in office at that time and look into things there. They will announce to you the correct ruling. 10 You must then act according to the ruling they announced to you from that location, the one the Lord selects. You must follow very carefully everything they instruct you to do. 11 Act precisely according to the instruction they give you and the ruling they announce to you. Don’t deviate even a bit from the word they announce. 12 And whoever acts rashly by not listening to the priest who is in office serving the Lord your God or to the head judge will die. Remove[a] such evil from Israel! 13 All the people will hear about this and be afraid. They won’t act arrogantly anymore.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 17:12 Or burn